In recent years computers have increasingly found a place in the domestic environment as well as in office and business situations. A large number of homes now have some form of personal computer for domestic use, and this normally implies in addition the presence of at least some peripheral devices such as a simple computer printer.
Conventionally a domestic personal computer is provided quite separately from other electrical/electronic home devices such as television sets, video recorders, laser disc players and hi-fi or audio-visual equipment. Often currently the computer may be in a different room, a study for example while the television will be in the living room. Increasingly, however, there is a growing tendency towards integration of all such devices. Audio-visual and "home cinema" systems are beginning to integrate what previously were separate television and audio equipment. With the advent of cable television systems offering Internet access, computing is also now being included in one integral package with audio-visual systems.
This introduces a difficulty, however, with conventional computer peripherals such as printers in particular. These are normally designed as stand-alone items and generally are not designed with aesthetic considerations primarily in mind. It would for most people be highly undesirable to have a computer printer in the living room next to the television and hi-fi equipment.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a computer printer that can be easily incorporated within a domestic audio-visual system. Such systems are usually arranged as stacks of components (eg television set, CD player, video player, amplifier and so on) and if the television set is to double as a form of computing device, it would be highly desirable to be able to incorporate the printer in such a stack.
The problem with doing this, however, is that space has to be provided both to access the printer to allow paper to be inserted, and to allow paper to exit the printer following a printing operation. In a conventional free-standing printer this is not a problem, and most printers have means to insert a paper tray in one side of the printer and for the paper to exit the printer from another side (usually either a top surface or the opposite side of the printer from the paper tray). Such conventional designs do not allow a printer to be "stacked" as part of other equipment.
Also known in the prior art are printers adapted to print images from video sources. Such known printers include a paper tray that is receivable in the front of the printer, and a separate paper output tray located in a slot closely adjacent and above the paper tray. However, such printers are only suitable for printing small paper sixes, eg postcard sizes, and cannot be used to print on A4 or letter size paper as is more normally required.